Skills
As opposed to Attributes, which are largely determined at birth, skills in Darklands can be improved with relative ease, as the character ages during Character Creation. Then, they will continue to climb as the party succeeds in its endeavors during the adventure, to a maximum of 99 each. The skills and corresponding abbreviations: ;Weapons : ;Academics : ;Survival : Fast Training Methods All Weapon Skills The weapon equipped on a character at the conclusion of a battle may improve the related skill by +1 to +5. The lower the character's skill level, the more likely it is to improve. Urban bandit encounters at night are the easiest, readiest source of combat training. How long a combat lasts, and whether the foes are bandits or dragons, does not affect the chances of skill improvement. Training a melee weapon skill in battle requires that at least one melee attack attempt be made during the fight; likewise for ranged weapons. Throwing potions in battle may improve WThr. Other than this, the weapons used during combat do not necessarily have to match up; for example, a swordsman can swap to a halberd in the final seconds of combat, and WPol will be trained instead of WEdg. With sufficient Local Rep, the party can obtain tutoring in WEdg, WImp, WBow, or WMsD (at random) from the weapons and armor guilds in cities by requesting a meeting with the guild's masters. Tutoring is more reliable than actual combat if the character is extremely proficient. Alchemy Mixing a batch of potions overnight can result in +1 to +3 Alch, no matter the odds or the outcome of the attempt. Day-for-day, tutoring at a city's inn is more likely than potioneering to improve the skill. It is available from Alchemists and Universities, but both locations sift through unworthy candidates with harsh skill checks. Religion, Latin, R&W Tutoring in these three skills is available from the Kloster and University. If the party has some wealth and time to spend on training, and enough virtue and/or fame to impress the monks, dealing with the kloster is pretty easy. If the party is powerful, there is an opportunity in the main quest-related Fortress Monastery to get 15 points of SpkL for the party's best Latin-speaker. It can even be done repeatedly, by exiting and reentering the fortress. Prayers to Gregory T, Thomas Aquinas, Boniface, or Raphael during the cut-scene are strongly advised. Incidentally, one these saints can also be invoked for a specific party member beforehand, to change who gets the 15-point blast to the skill. Virtue Doing good deeds around the Empire gives sporadic increases to Virt, and is the way this skill is meant to be trained. The Witch Sabot in the main quest offers a chance for the party to proselytize and obtain party-wide increases to Virt. There are five feasts held per year. There is an exploit to guarantee increases to Virt when donating money to the local Kirche, and this is the fastest method by far. Speak Common Many interactions want this skill, but few actually train it. The best way to improve SpkC is to try to talk one's way through a city's gates, day or night. The only thing at stake is a couple pfennigs, for the toll. Chatting up the guards can be attempted repeatedly until it fails, but the party can resume attempting it the next day. Success raises Local Rep, too; oddly enough, it is possible to become regarded as "local heroes" simply for talking one's way out of the gate toll dozens of times. Healing Tutoring in Heal is available from Physicians and Universities. Both locations are selective about their candidates. The skill of the physician affects the likelihood of a skill increment when tutoring. This is in fact true of all tutors, including the university, but the physician is the only tutor in Darklands whose skill can be determined in conversation. Artifice Artifice can be trained by approaching the Tinkers in a city, and if the party has sufficient Local Rep, requesting a meeting with the guild's masters— a similar situation to dealing with the smithing guilds for weapons training. It also has a high chance of +1 to +3 improvement if actually used on the battlescape. There is also an outrageously-expensive method for the party's best artificer to max out the skill in one go. This is to repeatedly deploy Eater Water against a locked office in the Markt without no trap or quest objective. Stealth The fastest possible training for this skill is achieved by infiltrating the Markt at night. A much less legally risky course is to make climbing attempts over walls and obstacles. Streetwise To train the skill rapidly, boost the party's Perception and attempt to talk through urban bandit encounters at night. Since the skill itself causes these encounters to become rare, an alternative remains to sneak in and out through the city gates during the day. Riding While the party travels on road terrain tiles overland, there is a random encounter instance where powerful officials will try to foist "tolls" out of the party, and leading their guards on a merry chase through the countryside is the most reliable Ride training. This is the hardest skill to train. Woodwise A Raubritter's territory (overland) is the best setting to train WdWs. Most encounters there will be with the minions of the Raubritter, and taking the option to Attack them at once may increment the WdWs skill by +1 to +3. There is a greater chance of the skill improving if the party perceives the enemy first and lays an ambush. Category:Skills